


What Makes A Clan?

by SpellCasterLight



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Major Themes of Exclusion., Tenten Week 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29919726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellCasterLight/pseuds/SpellCasterLight
Summary: "Not all clans have fancy compounds and free rides with the Hokage Shino," Tenten gave him a knowing, haunted look. "But you wouldn't understand that would you?" [Shino x Tenten] Tenten Week 2021 - Day 2 Prompts: Independent & Unapologetic
Relationships: Aburame Shino/Tenten
Kudos: 8





	What Makes A Clan?

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form. This story is purely for entertainment not profit.
> 
> Author's Notes: TentenWeek2021 Day 2 prompt! This is something I had had sitting around half finished for a while, because of Tenten's lack of canon background the imagination can allow you to play with it within reason. Combining that with the strong themes of orphaned children in Naruto gave me this.
> 
> Pairing Warning: It also goes without saying but if [Shino x Tenten] isn't your thing turn back now.
> 
> Warnings: Major Themes of Exclusion.
> 
> Tenten Week 2021 - Day 2 Prompts: Independent & Unapologetic

Team Eight had met up for training earlier that day and were now heading off to dinner when Kiba loudly yelled from beside him.

"Tenten!"

Shino looked up to see the brown-haired girl in question turn on the spot and smile at them.

"Oh, hey guys!" She greeted enthusiastically as she ran back to meet them halfway. "Where you guys off to?" The weapons mistress frowned seeming to search for something. "And where's Akamaru?"

"Oh, he's at the home," Kiba explained, like he had had to explain to a frantic Hinata earlier that day. "He injured his paw last mission, so he's confined to bed rest for a few days."

That only seemed to make the weapons user more upset. "Is he okay?"

"Aww no he's fine!" The Inuzuka waved her concern away with a lazy flick of his wrist. "A little shut eye and rest and he'll be okay."

"We w-were going to check o-out this restaurant tha-that Ino suggested," Hinata spoke up smiling brightly. "Apparently it's b-been around fo-forever bu-but it's on t-the far cor-corner of the village and we-we've ne-never really had a re-reason to go out tha-that way."

"Well I hope it's good; have fun!" Tenten gave a shaky smile before turning on the spot and starting away.

Shino frowned at that; that was a rather sudden retreat; a look to his teammates saw they were confused at her change as well. "Wait; Tenten," he spoke up making her turn back around before she got too far. "Do you have any plans; for dinner; this evening?"

The Team Gai member looked put out. "My teammates are out of the village and-" she cut herself off to look at the ground for a second. "-I was just gonna pick something up and eat at the house."

She didn't want to be a bother; she would rather be alone then ask to join them; he knew that feeling well. Shino spoke before he knew.

"Would you care to join us?"

"Ye-yes! The mo-more the mer-merrier!" Hinata added actually taking a hold of Tenten's hand.

"Oh! Well, that would be really cool of you guys," her smile then was dazzling. "I think I would like the company."

"That's settled then!"

* * *

Shino couldn't explain it; it was like the more north in the village they went, the further from the main streets, the more nervous Tenten became.

Their group crossed over a small red bridge and they actually had to wait for her to cross.

They were being stared at; three important clan heirs, a little staring is to be expected but this was; an unusual amount. Hinata was starting to become fidgety under the villager's watchful eyes.

"Wait _this_ is where you wanted to go?" Tenten asked sounding almost fearful.

Kiba turned to her. "You've been here before."

The weapons mistress bit her lip before shaking her head, seeming to take a deep swallow. "I've; heard of it."

If Ino hadn't suggested this place, even if it had been on the main street they probably would have walked right by. Mostly kept up to scratch but a few noticeable cracks in the wood, paint that needed touched up and one letter in their otherwise lit up name was dull.

When they entered a girl with a high ponytail of black hair started to greet them without lifting her head from writing something down at the host pedestal.

"Hi there welcome to Weeping Willow! Have you been here befo-" the girl cut off as soon as she lifted her head. "Tenten?"

"Hi there Janka," Tenten nervously licked her lips before plastering on a smile. "How are you? You're looking well."

All the light from the waitress's eyes left her to be replaced with a thinly hidden scowl and an angry twitch in her jaw.

"So, these must be some of your _ninja friends_?"

Shino saw Tenten release a silent sigh by the slumping of her shoulders.

"Uhh yes-" the weapons user rubbed her hands together before gesturing to each of them. "-this is Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame."

"You've certainly climbed high," The hosts lazy but icy tone indicated that her complimentary words were anything but. Her gaze went through each of them individually before falling on him. "I didn't think you liked bugs Tenten; you used to run away from spiders."

Shino, instinctively, was about to clear up the issue of informing the girl that spiders were not insects but stopped when he felt Tenten grab his arm more firmly than really needed to get his attention.

"They grow on you after a while Janka," Tenten slipped her arm through his and almost made a show of wrapping her hand around his upper arm. "Something so small cutting down something much bigger than itself; or building up others to be better," her arm seemed to somehow curl even more around his. "You start to greatly respect all the work they do."

The girl, Janka, seemed surprised and offended by Tenten's words even though they had nothing to do with her.

"I suppose; we wouldn't have flowers without them, would we?"

"No;" Tenten's eyes hardened and her grip on his arm increased. "You wouldn't."

A battle of wills seemed to happen before the waitress smiled brightly and clapped her hands together.

"But where are my manners! Table for four then?"

Janka grabbed four menus and led them to a table near the back, if the staring outside was bad this was off the charts, people actively following them the entire length of the restaurant floor.

The weapons user didn't release his arm the entire walk to their table and the Aburame heir had the feeling that it was best to leave her arm curled around his.

"Could I get you some tea?" The waitress asked as soon as they were seated. Tenten beside him and his teammates opposite in the booth.

"Ye-yes please," the purple haired girl replied politely.

"We have a special brand of our own tea, green tea and earl grey. What can I get you?" Janka started talking again before Hinata could reply. "You know what? I'll give you guys a pot of our special brand on the house!"

As the girl grinned and wrote it down on her notepad; her grin left her face, but she continued to keep her head down and write, her pen slowed but never stopped.

"And you Tenten? Will you have our special brand as well?"

When she didn't reply right away the Aburame turned to her and out of the corner of his eye he saw both Hinata and Kiba pull concerned expressions.

He felt the weapons user snake her hand around his arm again before glancing up at the waitress, expression unnerving neutral. "I think I'll have green tea Janka thank you.

That seemed to annoy the waitress as her grip on her pencil tightened so much her thumb and fingertip went ghost white for a second. "You sure? It's quite _bitter_."

"I'm used to it."

Janka just frowned more. "I'll be down to get your food order in a sec."

"Tenten what's up with that girl?" Kiba asked what had been on Shino's mind as well when the waitress was out of hearing range. "You steal her boyfriend or something?"

Hinata's cheeks flushed at that. "Ki-Kiba!"

"What? I'm only kidding!" The Inuzuka's grin dropped after his light laugh. "But seriously why does she act like she's got a kunai up her butt?"

Tenten looked like she wanted to laugh at that but her quick smile dropped just as fast, she busied herself with looking at the menu. "It's not important, don't worry about it guys."

The Hyuga heiress and the dog owner exchanged troubled looks at her answer.

Janka came back with their tea and took their order, seeming to purposely avoid looking at the weapons user, her tone becoming unfriendly when speaking to her.

The foursome's pleasant conversation was broken by two new people bringing them their food a little while later. It was exactly the same as with Janka, polite and cheery with the other three, hard and cold with Tenten.

The man holding Tenten's bowl of noodles practically lobbing it at her.

At Kiba's growl the weapons mistress slammed her hand over his quickly.

"Stop it."

"But they're-!"

"I know you mean well Kiba but just leave it alone okay?"

The bun haired woman forced them all to drop the conversation when she turned to Hinata, a giant fake smile plastered on her face, and asked her about medical training.

"Tenten," Shino looked up, as well as everyone else halfway through their meal, to find a boy this time, slightly younger than them, looking at Tenten, carrying a tray of empty glasses. "Janka said you were here; I didn't believe her."

The brown-haired girl actually smiled. "Hi Kona," when the boy didn't smile back it fell off her face.

"Why are you here?"

From the lip curl and small growl, the Inuzuka gave at that he thought that was a rude a question, as Shino did.

" _We_ wanted to come here."

The younger boy, Kona by what Tenten called him, did the same scan of the group Janka did before focusing on the weapons user again, Tenten metaphorically standing her ground and keeping his stare.

"Are you Tenten's _ninja friends_?"

There it was again, 'ninja friends' said like some sort of slur against them.

"We are yea," the dog owner confirmed with a bit of bite. "What about it?"

Hinata placed a hand on her teammates arm to calm him. "Ki-Kiba ple-please calm down."

The younger boy didn't even look in Kiba's direction at his outburst, his intense gaze staying solely on the bun haired girl.

"Was it worth it?" Kona narrowed his eyes. "Being a fancy ninja?"

Tenten didn't hesitate to answer, even if her voice sounded misty and far away. "I achieved everything I ever wanted Kona."

With a final half suppressed sneer the male restaurant employee left.

When Shino turned his head to look beside him, he saw Tenten look actually ill.

"Tenten? Are you well?"

She gave the insect user a shaky nod not looking in his direction. "I'm just going to go to the bathroom."

"I-I'll go with yo-you."

When the two girls were out of sight Kiba leaned in with a serious look.

"What is going _on_ here? Why does it feel like, when anyone talks to Tenten, it's like-?"

"Every sentence; has a different meaning?" Shino finished.

Kiba nodded, his jaw pulled tight in frustration. "Yea that's exactly it; like they're talking in code or something."

"I have noticed it also. It also does not sit well with me; the double meaning of everything; it makes me feel like we are in; enemy; territory."

"What was with her taking your arm when we were talking to that Janka girl at the door? And when she was ordering?" The dog owner asked something that had been on his mind as well. "What was all that 'they grow on you' and 'start to greatly respect' stuff?"

"I; of course; cannot be one hundred percent certain; without Tenten confirming," Shino started giving a quick look around, confirming none of the waiters were near. "But I believe she was; in her way; defending me."

"Defending you?" Kiba blinked. "From what? Did she insult you?"

"I think she insulted us all," Shino corrected. "You have heard them speak; they do not seem to; enjoy; the company of shinobi here."

"You can say that again."

Kiba leaned back into the booths cushions when the two girls reappeared.

Hinata slid back into her seat when they arrived at their side but Tenten seemed to be frozen to her spot on the floor only the smallest movements of her head taking place as if she was searching for an enemy attack.

"Te-Tenten?" The Hyuga heiress started placing her forefinger on her bottom lip. "Are yo-you okay?"

"Yea I-I think I'm just going to get some air."

With that the weapons user power walked, head down over and out the main door.

Shino was out of his seat the next second, he was half expecting something like this.

"I will be back," he threw at his teammates before heading out the door after the Team Gai member.

When the insect tamer left the restaurant, he found her only a few steps away from the door holding her thumb to her lip in an almost Hinata style thinking pose.

"Tenten," she lifted her head slowly. "I must ask you; what is happening here?"

The bun haired girl's head fell again for just a moment before a resolved look appeared on her face.

"Not all clans have fancy compounds and free rides with the Hokage Shino," Tenten gave him a knowing, haunted look. "But you wouldn't understand that would you?"

The Aburame heir felt like he should be insulted by her words, there was some sort of jab in them he knew that much, but to be insulted you needed to know what the other persons words meant and the intent behind them.

"What; are you implying?"

Tenten turned to him fully then before continuing in a soft but firm voice.

"Some clans you need to crawl your way out of, away from, clans don't usually like it when you turn your back on their members."

"The orphanage I grew up in owns that restaurant," she confessed making his eyebrows furrow in surprise. "I grew up with most of the people working there."

That explained why they all knew her at least, why they all seemed to have a history that left a bad taste in their mouths.

"A clan is supposed to be a way of life isn't it? Its members your family?"

Shino nodded instinctively, that's the way the Aburame were at least, a respectful, loving, uplifting, understanding family.

"Like a clan most don't ever truly leave the orphanage, not really."

Tenten took a second to sigh deeply rubbing her palms together before she continued to talk.

"There's a reason none of you would have been this far north east in the village. It's all residential. There's no clan compounds here," the weapons mistress turned slightly and pointed to a rather large building you could only see the topmost floor of as it was a street away. "That's where I grew up," she then pointed to grocery store down the street they were on. "The orphanage owns that store too," she pointed to a bar across from where they were standing. "And that bar."

She made a sweeping motion with her arm. "This whole area is filled with houses and shops filled with people who came from that orphanage."

"Am I right in assuming you noticed the stares we all got as soon as we were a few streets away from the Weeping Willow?"

Shino nodded; the stares and whispers were hard not to miss.

"You probably also assumed it was to do with the fact that three clan heirs were this far out," Tenten shook her head. "But that's not it. They would have recognised me the moment I crossed that bridge."

the Team Gai member pointed again to the small bridge they crossed on the way there.

"That's the boundary to the 'Promised Garden', it's what anyone from the orphanage calls this part of the village."

The haunted pained look she had seemed to double in strength, her voice becoming almost pleading.

"The people I grew up with, you don't understand Shino, some of these people have _never_ left this three-block radius. They grow up here, get jobs here, find their spouses here and get married there," she pointed directly behind him to a small church. At his questioning look she nodded. "Yes, they own that too."

The weapons mistress rubbed her palm over her forehead before meeting his eye again.

"Everyone else couldn't wait to start their lives here. None of them seemed to have any wish to leave but I wanted something other than waiting tables or filling drinks to the same people day in and day out. I wanted to see the world; to meet new people, to be my own person."

"When I joined The Academy, I wanted to stay. To continue to live here, to bridge the gap between what they had made 'us' and 'everyone else'," Tenten scoffed openly then before her teeth gritted together. "It was a dumb thought really."

"Eventually I couldn't take being pushed out by children and adults alike and Iruka Sensei helped me move into an apartment by myself. I actually live in the same building as Naruto."

Shino didn't know any of that, he wondered how many of their friends did. He was aware of certain orphanages, even in ninja villages, breeding a dislike for shinobi and creating their own niches and ways of life but had no idea it could so exclusive, so potentially damaging, so severe.

The Aburame heir could only scarcely imagine the loneliness, the heartache, the feeling of abandonment that would come from being forced out of your childhood home by those she cared about.

The weapons mistress had a level of emotional strength few even knew about.

"They saw it as turning my back on them which wasn't my-"

Tenten broke off and he followed her eye line to see one of the boys from the restaurant run into the bar she had motioned to earlier.

"Spreading the news, no doubt," the bun haired girl sighed before giving a sarcastic smile. "We'll be the talk of the town. Give it a few hours and everyone will be talking about us."

"We; did not know," Shino replied solemnly. What else could he possibly say?

Tenten smiled sadly waving his concern away.

"It's okay. I just-" the weapons user shrugged deeply, as if to rid her of a cold he did not feel himself. "-I think it's best if I leave."

"If; we; leave," he corrected. "You must know by now we; do not; leave a comrade behind."

Her eyebrow raised in a silent half laugh at that. "We aren't in battle Shino."

"It is for you."

The older girl didn't even argue his wording, only emphasising how much of an emotional struggle simply being there was. The laugh she gave then confused him, she looked at him with a light grin.

"You know they're going to be talking about you and me, specifically right?"

The hive user's own eyebrow raised at that. "How so?"

"Me defending you to Janka; the way you came out here to check on me. They're going to twist it, so we're engaged or something," her grin widened with a roll of her eyes. "They do _love_ to gossip!" She laughed but it sounded slightly hollow.

After a seconds thought Shino held out his hand to her and she looked at it before lifting her eyes to him.

"We should not disappoint them then; we should make sure the rumour mill is; overflowing."

She grinned an almost cheeky grin before taking his hand in hers, interlinking their fingers. He ignored his Kikaichu's happy buzz.

"I never thought you would be so sly Aburame," the elder girl joked wrapping her other hand around his forearm lightly. Not the warning grip she had given him earlier but simply a comforting protective hold.

Walking back through the restaurant to their table they somehow received even more hushed words and pointed looks than before.

Shino spoke to his teammates as soon as they got to the table, not giving them a chance to ask questions.

"We're paying; and then leaving."

Even Kiba knew not to question, not after what the two of them had discussed earlier. Both of them quickly scooting out of the booth and walking with them to the same host pedestal beside the door to pay.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" Janka asked with the most fake smile the insect tamer had ever seen turning practically ice cold when her gaze flicked to the bun haired girl.

Shino felt Tenten start to remove her hands from his hand and his arm, but he held tighter and used his free hand to rewrap her hand around his arm.

"It was; distinctive," Shino replied cryptically before continuing. "My fiancée's green tea was; particularly; enjoyable."

Janka's jaw actually dropped and Hinata started spluttering, Kiba grinned at him slyly, Shino knew the dog owner would catch on and back him up quickly.

"Come on Hinata! Shino told you this yesterday!" Kiba gaze moved to him with a pretend inquisitive look. "You _did_ tell her, right? It's not like you to forget things! Or am I just your favourite?"

Kiba was better at this than he thought.

"I was leaving that; up to Tenten."

When Shino turned to the bun haired woman, she had also schooled her features, only looking a little entertained now.

"My apologies Tenten; I know how much you wanted to tell the girls tomorrow at lunch. Forgive me?"

Tenten, falling fully into character, moulded herself to his side with a shy smile up at him.

"Oh, I don't care how people find out as long as I get to marry you Shino."

Shino turned back to the stunned waitress then to nod.

"Good evening; Janka," his grip on the weapons user's hand tightened for a mere second. "Let's go home Tenten."

She smiled the happiest smile he had seen on her face all day. "Yes let's."

No-one spoke until they had crossed the small red bridge again.

"Con-congratulations you t-two," Hinata suddenly announced with a cupping of hands in front of her. "I ne-never-"

The Hyuga heiress was interrupted abruptly by both Kiba and Tenten's laughter at that.

"Hinata we're not _actually_ engaged you know, that right?"

Hinata's smile fell to be replaced with open confusion making the dog owner grin wider.

"Yo-You're not? But ev-everyone-?"

"Shino was just-" Tenten's head actually fell onto his shoulder at that, she was such a gentle, healing, warm, his hive buzzed lightly in appreciation. "-looking out for me in his own way."

When Kiba started loudly teasing Hinata for not catching on to the dramatic lie when they were standing at the till Tenten, who was still holding his hand, squeezed his fingers affectionately.

"Thank you, Shino," her whisper so low it nearly carried off in the night air.

"It was my pleasure; Tenten."

The weapons mistress suddenly grinned in mirth into his shoulder as they walked.

"The look on her face was _brilliant_!" Tenten's laugh was loud and strong.

* * *

Shino was only mildly surprised when his father asked him if he was in a relationship a few days later.

Tenten did say they liked to spread gossip after all.


End file.
